Crenshaw replaces Palmer in Par 3 contest

Two-time champion Ben Crenshaw, who is saying farewell to the Masters this year, got another honor passed his way Monday.

The news that Arnold Palmer has decided not to play in the Par 3 Contest Wednesday opened a spot in the feature threesome that Crenshaw will fill.

“We are pleased to announce that Ben Crenshaw has accepted our invitation to join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player for this year, which we felt was a fitting way to acknowledge the end of Ben’s illustrious 44 years of competition at the Masters,” chairman Billy Payne said Monday.

Realistically, the time has come for Crenshaw, 63, to bid adieu to the tournament he so memorably won in 1984 and 1995. Twenty years after his last win, he’s become one of the shortest hitters at the tournament and has made the cut only three times since his last win. He hasn’t broken 80 in his last five rounds, dating back to his first round in 2012.

Crenshaw’s victory in 1995 ranks among the most memorable in Masters history. Coming only days after his mentor, Harvey Penick, passed away, it resulted in Crenshaw being overcome with emotion after making his final putt and being consoled by long-time caddie Carl Jackson.

“I’ve thought long and hard, and it’s the right time,” Crenshaw told the Augusta Chronicle. “I will look back and think how excited and fortunate I was to be in the fray a few times. No Masters champion ever forgets how that feels.”

Jackson once again will be on the bag for Crenshaw this week, marking the 39th time the two have worked together, the longest player-caddie relationship in Masters history. But Jackson, 67, who grew up in Augusta, said he isn’t ruling out his own return if he were asked to work for a golfer he expects to contend in the future.